AT&T and HBO have teamed up to showcase props and costumes from Game of Thrones at flagship stores across the country, plus give fans a taste of what it’s really like to fight a White Walker through the magic of VR. I was invited to visit the display in Chicago. Let’s see what it was like!
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It started with the invitation. Magic Leap sent me this really box that I am totally keeping:
Inside was a dragonglass dagger, although it could hold anything. I’m open to suggestions.
There was also a raven scroll sent by Jon Snow himself. “Come and join the fight for the living.” Can do.
The AT&T store in downtown Chicago was decked out with cool Game of Thrones accoutrements, starting with the display of house flags right at the door:
And yes, of course there was a full Iron Throne. Sit it in and be king or queen for a few seconds.:
That said, my favorite things were the costumes, all of which were actually used on the show at some point. The Chicago store has armor worn by the Hound…
…a Night’s Watch uniform…
…the outfit the wildling Karsi wore in “Hardhome”…
…the dress Sansa wore when Littlefinger was taking her Winterfell…
…one of Jon Snow’s northern avenger ensembles…
…Brienne of Tarth’s armor…
…and the Ned Stark-inspired get-up Arya wore after returning home to Winterfell in season 7:
For a fan like me, all of this was incredibly cool to see. There’s a wide assortment of props on display, too. Check out Sansa’s poison necklace on the side here:
Or how about the Sandor Clegane’s special Hound’s head helmet?
And of course, Cersei Lannister’s crown:
Plus several Valyrian steel blades; name them all!
So all of this was great, but the reason for the event were the mixed reality and VR experiences. The Dead Must Die, the mixed reality experience by Magic Leap, takes users to the Dragonpit, where they get to walk around the area where Jon Snow and company let a wight loose to prove to Cersei Lannister that they were a real threat:
That wight on the floor actually moves, by the way. It’s creepy.
This was a lot of fun. You get to move around the space and can pick up weapons lying on the ground — a torch, a dagger, etc. At the end, a surprise guests shows up. You’ll have to go yourself if you want to find out more.
But even more impressive was the virtual reality experience that takes viewers beyond the wall. For the AR experience, you put on an apparatus that changes the way you see your surroundings, but you’re still a part of them. For the VR experience, you wear a proper bulky headset that takes up your entire field of vision. Add in blasts of cold air and it really does feel like you’re in the far north, and it is not a hospitable place.
This was intense but fun. I won’t spoil everything, but you meet some nasty creatures north of the Wall, and you get to kill a bunch of them. And the experience doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending, typical of Game of Thrones.
There are Game of Thrones experiences in AT&T flagships stores in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and New York City. The one in Chicago, at least, is open through June. If you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it!
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